Sharks expected to take forward steps tonight vs. Ducks
Forwards Tomas Hertl and Timo Meier are both considered probable to return to the lineup tonight when the Sharks face the Anaheim Ducks.
Sharks coach Bob Boughner said Hertl was a little fatigued after Wednesday when he practiced with the team for the first time since Feb. 23, but otherwise felt that he looked good for his first skate in two weeks.
Hertl had been in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol after he tested positive for the coronavirus, and experienced symptoms for the first few days after he was isolated from the team.
Meier has missed the past two games with a lower-body injury. Boughner said Meier was experiencing some tightness as he made turns during some drills, “but he got through it and he’s going feel better today once he gets on the ice.”
The Sharks went 1-1-0
in the two games without both Hertl and Meier.
The Sharks (9-11-3) need all the help they can get, as they entered Thursday nine points back of the Colorado Avalanche for the fourth and final playoff spot in the West Division. Hertl had 11 points in his first 17 games and Meier is third on the Sharks with
15 points in 21 games. If Meier and Hertl do play Friday, it appears they’ll be on the same line together with Rudolfs Balcers as the other winger.
Boughner said his plan is to play Kurtis Gabriel tonight. Gabriel has played in three straight games, fighting in two of them against Vegas’ Ryan Reaves on March 5 and St. Louis’ Kyle Clifford on Monday. Gabriel had split time between the taxi squad and the AHL for much of the
first six weeks of the season, and the Sharks are 1-1-1 over the last three games.
“He drags his teammates into it,” Boughner said of Gabriel. “Personally, for me, I think that’s a good thing for our room.”
RECALLS >> The Sharks recalled centers Fredrik Handemark and Antti Suomela from the Barracuda, as the two will be with the team for at least the start of the four-game road trip. After the Sharks play the Ducks tonight and
Saturday, they face the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday and Wednesday.
The moves could be more for insurance than anything. With Hertl probable to return, Dylan Gambrell was the Sharks’ third-line center and Patrick Marleau was the fourth-line center in practice Wednesday.
Handemark has played in one NHL game this season, on Jan. 18 when the Sharks played the St. Louis Blues, but has spent the majority of the season
with the Barracuda.
Suomela, too, has been with the Barracuda for most of the season. His last NHL game came exactly a year ago, as the Sharks played the Chicago Blackhawks on March 11, 2020, a day before the league paused its season in response to the growing coronavirus pandemic.
With Handemark and Suomela coming to the Sharks, Joachim Blichfeld was returned to the Barracuda.